From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordRepeated distillation involving the return of the drawn liquid to its source body.
- In the bookCohopb and Cohop are explicit alternative names for this operation.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 16; facsimile PDF page 344.
Historical definition
Cohobatio is the repeated drawing off of a liquid from its body, with the liquid repeatedly poured back upon it.
Meaning
Repetition gives this operation its identity. A liquid is drawn from a body, returned to that body, and drawn off again. The definition therefore names a relation between the collected liquid and the matter from which it came; simply collecting several portions of a distillate would not express the whole description. “Body” means the material subject of the work and does not restrict it to an animal body.
The entry provides an outline of an operation, without saying what substance undergoes it or what product results. Nor does it specify how many repetitions are required. Those details must come from the passage in which the term occurs. The return of the liquid is an essential part of the meaning, while a particular apparatus or number of cycles is left open.
Use in the book
Cohopb and Cohop are explicit alternative names for this operation. Compare Diota, a circulating vessel: that entry identifies equipment through the movement it enables, whereas Cohobatio identifies the repeated treatment itself. Digestio provides a different account of preparation, framed through the separation of pure from impure. These terms can occur within one work without becoming synonyms.
Places to read
In this edition
The modernised definition makes the return of the liquid explicit because “being oft put upon it” can be easy to overlook. It does not turn the description into a laboratory protocol or supply conditions absent from the historical text.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 16; facsimile PDF page 344 — Facsimile